The Empty Chair
A
man's daughter had asked the parish priest to come and pray with her father.
When the priest arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head
propped up on two pillows. An empty
chair sat beside his bed. The
priest assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit.
"I guess you were expecting me," he said.
"No, who are you?" said the father.
The priest told him his name and then remarked, "I see the empty chair; I figured you knew I was going to show up."
"Oh
yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man.
"Would you mind closing the door?"
Puzzled, the priest shut the door.
"I
have never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man.
"But all of my life I have never known how to pray.
At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right
over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer, until one day about four years
ago my best friend said to me, `Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of having
a conversation with Jesus. Here is
what I suggest.' Sit
down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on
the chair. It's not spooky because
he promised; `I'll be with you
always.' Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right
now."
So I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every
day. I'm careful though.
If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a
nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.
The priest was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue
on the journey. Then he prayed with
him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church. Two nights later the
daughter called to tell the priest that her daddy had died that afternoon.
"Did he die in peace?" he asked.
"Yes,
when I left the house about two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside, told
me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an
hour later, I found him dead.
But there was something strange about his death.
Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head in
the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?"
The priest wiped a tear from his eye and said, "I wish we could all go like that."